Local Food Bank Doubles Size

The Capital Area Food Bank is doubling its capacity by building a new distribution center at 4900 Puerto Rico Ave, NE. The new 125,000-square-foot facility costs $37 million and has provided about 170 construction jobs. That is more than twice the size of their current 48,000-square-foot facility, about 1/2 mile away from 645 Taylor St. NE.

Founded in 1980, Capital Area Food Bank is the largest nonprofit hunger and nutrition education resource in the Washington Metropolitan area. Through 700 partner agencies, Capital Area Food Bank annually distributes 23 million pounds of food to people in need. The food bank receives food from more than 400 manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors, grocers, growers, processors, the food industry and Feeding America, as well as from food drives.

"The new distribution center will enable Capital Area Food Bank to double distribution capacity over time to meet the needs of the people," said Page Crosland, senior director of marketing & communications at Capital Area Food Bank. Doubling the capacity of Capital Area Food Bank means doubling the amount of food supplied to over 633,000 Washington area residents that are experiencing hunger, one-third of which are children.

The new Capital Area Food Bank distribution center should be completed in summer 2012 and will feature solar panels and other energy-efficient features. It will also have increased trucking space to transport perishable food quicker. There will be additional refrigeration space, as well as a commercial kitchen for hot meal preparation.

The new facility will have 100,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space and 25,000 sq. ft. of office space. There will be a training kitchen for employees and volunteers, as well as a resource center for the partner agencies. Whereas the old facility only has one loading dock, the new facility will have nine. One of the most useful new features will be the bulk repack area. Taking in huge bulk quantities allows Capital Area Food Bank to save money. The bulk food is also the most serviceable, such as beans, rice, and flour.

Capital Area Food Bank is striving to make the distribution center an environmental-friendly facility. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized green building certification system. Capital Area Food Bank is working on getting LEED-Certified in time for the grand opening of the new facility.

With the current state of the economy, how does a nonprofit resource like Capital Area Food Bank raise $37 million for a new state-of-the-art distribution center?

According to Hilary Salmon, the campaign and major gifts manager at Capital Area Food Bank, it was a long fundraising process in 2005. The food bank received corporate and foundation funding. It also received funding from the government for the distribution center.

Salmon said, "We would love to see a time when we can close our doors because nobody will need us anymore, but with the way the economy is trending, it doesn't look like that will happen soon."